National statistics

Search and rescue helicopter annual statistics: year ending March 2020

Civilian search and rescue helicopter activity statistics in the United Kingdom, from April 2019 to March 2020.

Documents

Search and rescue helicopter annual statistics: year ending March 2020 tables

Request an accessible format.
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email webmasterdft@dft.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

Statistics on civilian search and rescue helicopter activity in the United Kingdom, based on details of taskings recorded by the the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC).

Explore the data via our interactive search and rescue helicopter statistics dashboard covering SARH taskings from April 2015 onwards.

In the year ending March 2020:

  • there were 2,380 civilian SARH taskings
  • Prestwick base was the busiest of the 10 bases, responding to 338 taskings
  • 52% of taskings involved rescue or recovery
  • land-based taskings accounted for 50% of all taskings
  • there were 1,555 people rescued across all taskings

Changes to these statistics

Following user engagement in March 2018, we have made changes to the tables included alongside this release. Further details, and a summary of user feedback on these statistics, are included in the background quality report.

From June 2019 onwards, these statistics will move from quarterly to biannual updates. The next update of these statistics will therefore be published in December 2020 and will cover the period from April 2020 to September 2020. We welcome any feedback on the changes to the tables, by contacting us.

Contact us

Search and rescue helicopter statistics

Email SARH.stats@dft.gov.uk

Public enquiries 020 7944 4847

Media enquiries 0300 7777 878

Published 22 July 2020